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Tuvok: how would you have fleshed out his role?

dupersuper said:
Where was this made apparent?
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It doesn't have to be apparent, until a writer makes it so. For now, in continuity that universe had ended but if that person from that universe is dead, Adm GOAT Janeway, how would she know that universe is gone??? It wasn't as if an omnipotent being gave an overview for her to envision? The plot made the worst assumptions that the death of Seven and staying longer in the Delta Quadrant altered Janeway's entire world, it wasn't "All Good Things..." by a long shot where Q presented events to Picard that HE destroyed humanity. But heck, Seven is alive and well killing whoever she wants on PICARD so the GOAT got that right. I'm getting closer to thinking that not only she's the Greatest of All Time but could be semi-omnipotent or possibly full omnipotent. She is the only being to ever make a deal with the Borg. When I saw TNG episode "Parallels" I'm convinced multi-verses exist in the Star Trek universe and because Worf sealed the genie in the bottle doesn't mean it no longer exists.
 
I would have made Tuvok and Janeway a couple. Tuvok finds out his wife has died back on Vulcan. Mark has left Janeway. They are already close friends.
 
I think they missed out on having Tuvok and Janeway interact more, so we could see more of their trusted friendship. I wouldn't have minded a flashback episode with them set during the Cardassian War or something along that line. Another thing that comes to mind is his relationship with Chakotay. I read the Caretaker novelization before I saw the series and I got the impression that Chakotay was really angry at Paris, but I think also would've been salty at Tuvok as well and I don't recall seeing that played up that much or as much as I would've liked. (Granted there's a lot of VOY episodes I haven't seen, particularly in the first three seasons so maybe they did and I missed it).
 
Like most potential Starfleet/Maquis conflicts on Voyager, the issues between Chakotay and Tuvok were downplayed. They did little more than keep each other at arm's length.
 
I think the first thing I would do with any Vulcan actor is make them sit down and watch the entirety of Mark Lenard’s performances in the role and reassure them that they are entirely free to have some intonation in their voice.

Don’t base it off Spock, who was half-human and ended up overcompensating in his you trying to “be Vulcan”. Lenard is the quintessential Vulcan for me. The rest, and this goes for pretty much everyone playing a Vulcan from 1987 onwards, except Kim Cattrall, just cannot play Vulcans as anything but cardboard monotones.
 
I enjoy Tuvok. Not every character needs equal screen time. I don't need character arcs if I have good sci-fi what-if conceits at the heart of an episode.

I'd just add back a little more of that long-trusted-friend angle. Early in the show when J feels T betrays her and she's super hurt -- that's good stuff. So that was an element of depth to the characters that got jettisoned, though we did get the Dr. and Seven, which were gains.
 
Regarding Chakotay feeling angry at Tuvok, he said he in the pilot that 'at least he was doing his duty as a Starfleet officer'. He respects that, and likely understands it wasn't personal. He still kept Tuvok at arms length throughout the show, but I never got the impression he held any ill will once aboard.

Of course, it was simply because the writers dropped the matter, but in the case of Tuvok's time as an undercover agent, I can understand Chakotay just letting it go.

The real story is Tom... why was Chakotay so mad at him? We never got to see that.
 
I know that, but the way it was portrayed on screen showed Chakotay really mad at the presence of Tom. Dialogue alone, I agree it's just as we see. But the way the scene plays out, it certainly feels like there's a story we didn't see.

Plus, during Tom's 'bad days' in season 2, he said at the end during the interview with Neelix that there was a certain amount of fun doing all that to Chakotay. That also implies there's a story we never got to see.
 
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The Knappos said:
reassure them that they are entirely free to have some intonation in their voice.

Don’t base it off Spock, who was half-human and ended up overcompensating in his you trying to “be Vulcan”. Lenard is the quintessential Vulcan for me. The rest, and this goes for pretty much everyone playing a Vulcan from 1987 onwards, except Kim Cattrall, just cannot play Vulcans as anything but cardboard monotones.
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To be fair, Tuvok didn't exactly fully disguise his exasperation/frustration with certain crew members (e.g., Neelix) and there were times his admiration/respect for an individual crept into his voice (e.g., the investigator lady from that planet of telepaths). Also, Taurik of The Next Generation/Vorik of Voyager (played the by same actor) were both fairly nonstandard for Vulcans: downright amiable in tone.
 
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Hey, anyone that refuses to be cowed by an all-powerful cosmic entity is a-okay in my book.
 
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Farscape One said:
I know that, but the way it was portrayed on screen showed Chakotay really mad at the presence of Tom. Dialogue alone, I agree it's just as we see. But the way the scene plays out, it certainly feels like there's a story we didn't see.

Plus, during Tom's 'bad days' in season 2, he said at the end during the interview with Neelix that there was a certain amount of fun doing all that to Chakotay. That also implies there's a story we never got to see.
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Voyager is a product of its time. That kind of episodic show building wasn't seen outside of DS9 and even then, Ira Steven Behr and his team had to pull teeth to even do that.

In regards to Tuvok, his edges were softened as the series went on. If the powers that be really wanted to make Endgame less of a mess, there could have been small scenes dropped into episodes, like the Paris stuff in Season 2, to build up his failing memory & make it a bigger reason Janeway wants to use the transwarp network to get home.
 
flandry84 said:
Funny for a Vulcan “bred to peace” to be a security and weapons officer.
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It would be illogical not to use force to defend ones planet, people, family, ship, crew, etc from those who wish to do harm. The Vulcans are peaceful (now) but they aren't pacifists.

As for how I'd have fleshed out the character, kill off Chakotay and make Tuvok the new XO, then stick Seven in a standard uniform so its no longer the T&A Show, and have a computer error delete the EMH so that the rest of the cast can enjoy more development :lol:
 
IMO, the problem with the Doctor wasn't that he existed and more that "Main Characters Do Everything" meant that he mostly didn't have a plausible assistant (Sam, an exobiologist, would have made a lot more sense than Paris with his minor in chemistry).
 
Bry_Sinclair said:
As for how I'd have fleshed out the character, kill off Chakotay and make Tuvok the new XO, then stick Seven in a standard uniform so its no longer the T&A Show, and have a computer error delete the EMH so that the rest of the cast can enjoy more development :lol:
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I like the first two ideas. Chakotay was stagnating, and Seven looked great in a blue uniform in that time travel episode that gave Janeway a headache.

But Picardo was too good a character to get rid of. Surely they can throw more episodes to Tuvok (and Harry and Neelix, who needed them more) without losing him.
 
Bry_Sinclair said:
It would be illogical not to use force to defend ones planet, people, family, ship, crew, etc from those who wish to do harm. The Vulcans are peaceful (now) but they aren't pacifists.

As for how I'd have fleshed out the character, kill off Chakotay and make Tuvok the new XO, then stick Seven in a standard uniform so its no longer the T&A Show, and have a computer error delete the EMH so that the rest of the cast can enjoy more development :lol:
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I think someone needs to take your dagger away :p.
 
Shamrock Holmes said:
IMO, the problem with the Doctor wasn't that he existed and more that "Main Characters Do Everything" meant that he mostly didn't have a plausible assistant (Sam, an exobiologist, would have made a lot more sense than Paris with his minor in chemistry).
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For the first few seasons there were virtually no blue shirts aboard a science vessel. Until after they got the surplus DS9 uniforms. :p

Stuck on UPN I'm sure meddling by the suits and budget constraints affected having more recurring characters appear more often. Far cheaper to just throw Robbie in for the few scenes when a nurse might have been needed after Kes left. Even though he was pretty much the most unqualified person to be said nurse seeing as he should be driving the ship. "Bliss" comes to mind where he is bounced from the bridge scenes to sickbay after the Doctor is taken offline and then back to the bridge to man the helm in short order. The guy needed a raise.
 
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